Tasting Vienna on the Run

I’ve been on dozens of food tours—they’re one of my favorite ways to experience the cities I visit—but the one last summer in Vienna was unusual in how much of the city it covered with our super-enthusiastic guide, Maria.

Most tours are organized around a limited area that makes walking easy; as a result, that often either limits the variety of food, or means sticking to an area rich in choices because it’s also at the center of tourism. This tour, though, took advantage of Vienna’s extensive transit system as we traveled from neighborhood to neighborhood by subway and tram.

We started at Cafe Prückerl, a relatively elegant cafe on the Ringstrasse near busy Stubentor, just after what would be breakfast time if I ever ate breakfast before a food tour.

Coffee, of course. I’m a fan of Vienna’s ‘melange,’ a close relative of a cappuccino, but made with a gentler coffee than the espresso usual in Italian versions. And schnittlauchbrot, a tasty snack of chopped chives on richly-buttered bread. It’s sometimes made with quark cheese in place of butter.

So much for the savory. The star of the Prückerl show was an excellent square of a Vienna classic, apple strudel. This one had the super-thin layers of flaky crust I remember from my grandmother’s version, the hint of cinnamon and was carefully not over-sweet, an issue with many I’ve had.

Another dip into the subway, and we came up in the Tenth District, outside the old core of the city, and a neighborhood with a history of receiving and absorbing immigrants over the centuries. On the way to our next stop, we passed through a lively daily market with Middle Eastern overtones.

Tucked away in a corner of the market, we found our way to Cafe Prokes.

No coffee here: time for wine, in this case a pleasant white-wine spritzer, paired with speckbrot, literally bacon bread. Thin slices laid out on a tasty bread, and sprinkled with shredded fresh horseradish. That horseradish gets shredded on a lot of foods in Vienna!

Time for a mid-tour dessert. Maria led us to nearby Groissböck, a cafe known for repeatedly winning an annual city-wide Carnival-season contest for the best of another Vienna specialty: krapfen. This is another version of a jelly doughnut, and I’m a fan of jelly doughnuts, so…

Food culture note: In the U.S., they’re usually filled with either raspberry or ‘red’ filling. Vienna’s krapfen go for apricot; in Berlin, Berliners are filled with plum jam.

Anyway, the Groissböck  version justified its title (see poster) as the Emperor of Krapfen. Incredibly light, full of flavor from traditional frying in lard and with a really rich apricot flavor within.

And then, off to the 16th District for what, for me, was the absolute highlight of the day. That’s Maria in the white shirt in the next picture, by the way, in front of the sausage stand, or Wurstelstand, run by Thomas, who is not only a great cook but an amusing and talented entertainer. Maria warned us that he would likely take over the narration, and he did.

Within the small sidewalk stand, there’s an incredible amount of cooking and preparing going on; not just an extended version of the sausage menu that is one of my Vienna standbys, but two other incredible dishes.

For the record, we sampled three types of sausages, with sweet, sour and sharp mustard and, again, shredded horseradish. We also sampled the local Ottakringer beer.

But, the sausages were an anti-climax this time, coming as they did after a generous sample of Thomas’s goulasch, a dark and rich version, rich in paprika and then tempered by melting in a portion of chocolate. I’m going to have to try that with mine at home!

But even the goulash was not the end. Next came what may be one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted: Kümmelbraten. This is a thick slice of pork belly, marinated in oil, garlic, pepper and salt and then spread with a layer of caraway seeds and roasted for hours. On my best behavior, I refrained from licking the plate.

For the last stop, we traveled back to the Second District, toward the center. At Praterwirt, two more typical dishes to end the day. Käsespätzle, the wonderful drop dumplings, this time tossed in melted cheese and sprinkled with fried onions, and the dish the city gave its name to, Wienerschnitzel.

Sadly, I had a date to meet friends elsewhere in the city, and had to move on while the last mini-meal went on. It would have been pleasant to spend more time with Maria, and with the group.

I booked the tour through Viator, but the local operator is Wolfy’s Adventures, which also has a range of other food tours and more. If you decide to try this tour, ask for Maria!